Lately

This is a nice big picture of the Mount of Olives. Where Jesus spent a lot of time with His Father.

Its relevant for a couple of reasons. I gave a talk to the youth in church on Sunday about 'Learning To Be A Leader' and this picture was involved. To those of you who answered my leadership survey questions, many thanks! A number of them responded to the call to increase their sphere of influence and to be open to leading in various areas in the future. All by God's grace of course, as the powerpoint kept failing on me, and my words were rough at the best of times.

The picture is also relevant as I'm considering getting a camera to replace my 3 year old Pentax Optio which was stolen last summer while I was back in Malaysia. I've been relying on my Samsung 2mp camera phone to provide quick shots, but lately I've realised I'm not as keen to take photos as before. Which may be a good thing, but it means less things remembered. So I'm considering a new digital compact.

If I had the cash, the Ixus 860IS would be great, but since I don't, I'm looking at the Panasonic Lumix FX-35 or FX-30. Both not top of the range or the newest, but they have enough megapixels (8 i think) to keep me happy, plus the draw of the 28mm lens for more panoramic shots is very tempting. Also looking at the Ricoh Caplio R7, which also has the above features, is cheap, but apparently is pretty noisy (and not talking picture noise here) in operation. All of the above can be had for around GBP150 which translates to about RM1k, and I realise its probably a lot cheaper in Msia, but hey, I can't be buying stuff and shipping them overseas forever.

Anyone with any experience of using the above cameras? Would be glad to hear from you and also from anyone with more suggestions of cameras around that price range.